Radium Springs

Most folks that have spent any amount of time in Randolph County, Missouri have perhaps heard of Randolph Springs, the resort west of Huntsville on what is now Highway 24. It still appears on many maps. Not quite as well known is Radium Springs, a resort that was once centered on what is now West Carpenter Street.in Huntsville. Radium Springs consisted of one spring, a bath house, a pavilion, park, and a baseball field. Its history began in the 1900s when a company was drilling for oil on the western edge of Huntsville. A well was drilled, but instead of hitting oil they hit mineral water. There were three doctors in the company, and they realized what such a spring could mean in the form of a spa. At that time medicinal springs were very popular, and this can be seen by the success of nearby Randolph Springs. Randolph Springs at that time was thriving with two hotels, three different kinds of springs, and talk of an electric trolley to Moberly. Samples of the Radium Springs water were sent to Columbia Missouri to be tested, and the report that resulted showed the water contained Silica Oxides of Iron and Aluminum, Ammonium Bicarbonate, Lithium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Calcium Sulphate, Strontium Sulphate, and of course Radium. According to newspapers at the time it was determined the water was about the same as the water from the springs at Excelsior Springs save that the Radium Springs water had a small amount of radium. Perhaps not ironically, some of these compounds such as Magnesium Chloride and Lithium Chloride are now used in the treatment of cancer or to prevent cancer.

In March, 1909 the resort officially opened. A hotel by the same name was quickly built on Main Street and still stands, and many know it as the “Old Hotel.” Older people about Huntsville may remember it as the Fleming Apartments which were operated by Lawrence Fleming for many years. Local newspapers of the time reveal there was much hope for Radium Springs. After all, Randolph Springs while a much larger operation had been highly successful up to that point. It was quite often one saw lines in the newspapers like this one from the August 24, 1909 edition of the Moberly Weekly Monitor, “Radium Springs water is. fast gaining a reputation for medicinal and bathing purposes that promises to make them the most popular in the state.” The amount of land initially belonging to the resort was 11 acres which was purchased from J. W. Tisue, but in the months and years that followed more land was purchased and added to the resort until it covered 45 acres. According to an article in the May 30, 1929 edition of the Moberly Monitor-Index the resort had 300 rose bushes, 200 fruit trees, and a wide variety of flowers. There were six bathes, three for men and three for women as well as a smaller bath in the basement of the bathhouse.

Dr. Robert. E. Kiernan Jr. owned and operated Radium Springs for most of its history. He was a dentist by trade having graduated from Missouri Dental College in Saint Louis in 1888. Upon graduation he returned to Huntsville where his father, Dr. Robert E. Kiernan, an Irish immigrant had settled prior to the Civil War. Two years later he married Lillie Hedges of Moberly. Dr. Robert E. Kiernan Jr. built a flourishing trade, and was even mayor of Huntsville for one term. Most of his time in his later life was dedicated to Radium Springs, though he continued to work as a dentist, a trade he was at for 55 years. It is not clear when he ceased to operate the resort. Newspaper reports show that people visited there as late as 1935 to bathe, but Dr, Kiernan put the land up for rent in 1938. At that time he was willing to rent out the whole 45 acres or simply the springs alone. He put the land, springs and all, up for sale in 1941.

Throughout the teens and twenties there were numerous newspaper articles that would point to the resort being successful. In the early thirties stories of bathers at the spa were rare. Perhaps, as much else during the Great Depression the spa’s business may have dropped dramatically. A similar situation happened with nearby Randolph Springs which had been much more successful than Radium Springs. Dr, Kiernan passed away on August 6, 1943 in McCormick Hospital where he had been a patient for several days. Even as late as June, 1944 though there was talk of uses for Radium Springs. Hosea Taylor, an attorney in Huntsville and President of the Huntsville Community Club advocated building a hospital at Radium Springs at that time. Eventually though, the land that comprised the resort would be sold for use as a farm and purchased by Don and Annie Toombs.

The Radium Springs Hotel which was a separate business entity was never successful as a hotel seeing bankruptcy several times and multiple owners and was even sold on the courthouse steps at one point. Before finally being purchased by Burton Sweeny Fleming (part owner in the Fleming Rake Factory). the name was changed to Hotel Huntsville. Fleming first made the old hotel a private home, but eventually turned it into apartments. It is currently being extensively remodeled by its most recent owners. The land that comprised Radium Springs now makes up some people’s homes and backyards on West Carpenter Street and Park Lane in Huntsville, but it would appear now it is mostly woodlands. However, for about twenty years it operated as a resort and spa bringing some business and notoriety to Huntsville. Who’s to say if Hosea Taylor had had his way and a hospital been built there what would have happened? Unfortunately, we will never know. What we know is that for almost twenty years Huntsville had its own medicinal springs resort.

Radium Springs Park in relation to present day Huntsville, Missouri